HAVING the royal family "centre stage" in the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony looked "completely out of touch" for people across Scotland amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, the Scottish Greens have warned
As the Commonwealth Games opened in Glasgow, King Charles and Queen Camilla were a key focus of the celebrations.
The show kicked off with the pair emerging from a Tardis before the crowd sang God Save the King. Throughout the programme, cameras continually cut back to the royal couple.
Polling from the Diffley Partnership earlier this year found fewer than 50% of Scots want to maintain King Charles as the head of state.
The survey found just 48% of Scots want to see King Charles remain as head of state, while 43% would like to see the monarchy replaced with an elected alternative.
Support has slipped in the wake of the scandal surrounding the King's brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. He was arrested in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office following allegations he shared sensitive information with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein while serving as the UK’s trade envoy.
Andrew has also been dogged by allegations he sexually abused Virginia Giuffre, who took her own life in April last year, after she was trafficked by the financier. He has always strenuously denied the allegations, but reached an out-of-court settlement with her in 2022.
The Commonwealth Games also come as the royal family's funding is set to double to around £100 million per year.
The sovereign grant, which funds the official functions of the royals, will be around £99.9m in 2027/28 – a 222% increase on the grant over 15 years, up from £31m in 2012.
A Scottish Green Party spokesperson said: “With households still being hammered by the cost-of-living crisis, the sight of an enormously wealthy and unelected royal family being placed centre stage will have felt completely out of touch for many people across Scotland.
“Many of the athletes marching into Glasgow for the games represent proud republics that have already moved beyond the monarchy, and Scotland should follow the same path in having an elected and accountable head of state.”
Polling from Lord Ashcroft found in 2023 that six Commonwealth countries outside of the UK would vote to remove King Charles as head of state.
Those countries were Antigua and Barbuda (by 47% to 45%), Australia (by 42% to 35%), the Bahamas (by 51% to 27%), Canada (by 47% to 23%), Jamaica (by 49% to 40%) and the Solomon Islands (by 59% to 34%).
Since that study, Jamaica has tabled a bill seeking to oust King Charles as head of state.
In 2021, Barbados removed the British monarch as their head of state.
